Podbit · The Charlie Kirk Show
Why would men risk their fortunes, families, and lives for a cause with near-impossible odds? Kirk's answer is simple and unambiguous: they valued being right before God, not right before King George. That was the only reason. Faith — not political theory, not economic interest — drove the founding.
Where this was said
At 16:15 · chapter starts 12:10
This is the most emotionally charged section of the sermon. Kirk moves through a roll call of forgotten signers: William Ellery, who watched the British burn his home while his children were forced to watch; Lewis Morris, whose estate was plundered and cattle driven off; Carter Braxton, who died in debt before the war ended; Thomas McKean, hunted by the British and forced to move five times in three years; Abraham Clark, whose two sons were captured and tortured on prison ships; John Hart, who fled into the woods while his wife died and his thirteen children were scattered, never to be reunited. Francis Lewis's wife was imprisoned, tortured, and died. Richard Stockton was starved into signing a loyalty oath. Kirk's point is emphatic: they did this by choice. They went looking for this level of suffering because they valued being right before God, not right before King George.
William Ellery watched the British burn his home. Francis Lewis's wife was imprisoned, tortured, and died shortly after release. John Hart fled into the woods while his wife died and his 13 children were scattered — and he never saw them again. These men chose this suffering. It didn't happen to them; they walked into it.
Declaration signer Thomas McKean was hunted by the British, forced to move his family five times in three years, and died penniless.
Declaration signer John Hart fled into the woods; his wife died while he was on the run, his 13 children were scattered, and he never saw them again.
At the time of the Declaration, only one-third of colonists supported independence; one-third were neutral and one-third were loyal to Britain.
Of all colonists, only 3% ended up fighting in the Revolutionary War, with an even smaller fraction driving the cause forward.
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Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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